Alone I Stand, Together I Shatter
by detrametal
Summary: Many people have done rewrites of KHR, sadly, I am joining those ranks, but in a much different fashion. Tsuna has raised himself since as far back as he can remember, destitue and breaking his body to survive through school, out of the blue a hit man claims that he will be the 11th "Sorry, I can't" This Tsuna is a bit different...calmer...stronger, but more fragile than glass


I don't own KHR…probably for the better since I can't draw worth squat…

If you haven't read the note on my profile please do

* * *

The fifteen year old unlocked the door and called out "I'm home!" he wasn't surprised when nothing but his echo answered him. This was a particularly unusual boy, he worked two jobs and went to school, his parents were alive, yet they never bothered to call or even come home. Honestly, he couldn't even remember what the woman who gave birth to him looked like-who could blame him, they were gone an entire two-thirds of his life leaving him alone and sending only spare change a month.

He tossed his keys into a small basket by the door with his wallet and a few other things he needed before he left the house and crawled to the couch before falling face first into the ratty cushion, it was a Saturday and he only had to work from 4 to noon. His soft snores filled the room for a few moments before a knock at the door roused him. Groggily he answered to see someone at the door "Ciaossu"

He stared down at the child before looking around, with a sigh he scratched his head "Well…if you're sure you're at the right house come on in"

The child lifted a brow "Just like that you'd let me in? Even if I am a child I might be dangerous"

The owner of the home simply shrugged "My life sucks anyways so it doesn't make much difference if I die now or in eighty years. Coffee?"

The fedora tipped "If you have some espresso I'd be happy to take it off your hands"

The elder boy shook his head "The machine is way too expensive, I have water, tea, milk, coffee and…oh, I have some orange juice" came the voice from inside the fridge along with the sound of things moving.

"Coffee please"

Tsuna set the two cups down before allowing the baby to take a sip and nod "Okay, I have to ask what your business is, but this is my only day off and I'd really like to get rid of you and go back to sleep"

The curly sideburn wearing baby blinked not once but twice in surprise "You'd really throw a baby out on the street?"

"I survived without parents and obviously you're not a normal kid, you look what…two, three max and here you are speaking like an adult and drinking coffee, not to mention that that suite probably cost more than everything in this house-including the house-combined."

The child smirked "My name is Reborn. I'm an assassin called forth to tutor you to become a mafia boss"

"Sorry, can't do it. I simply don't have the time" Reborn was stunned by the brilliantly clear face the boy presented.

But he had to try "Why is that?"

Tsuna tallied the reasons on his fingers "I go to school and have two jobs that work me everyday but Saturday and Sunday, but the latter I have to use to repair things and study. I'm not all that smart so I have to study a lot just to not fail. And to be honest I have to make a budget for not just my very limited money and brain capacity but for my time too. So please, if you have another candidate use them first."

Reborn allowed himself to be led out of the house as he digest that information, he walked to a nearby park and flicked open his Leon phone "Get me Decima...now you sorry little ingrate"

* * *

Nana Vongola Sawada stepped out of the door and sharply turned "Grandpa why exactly do you want to do this now?"

The aged Timote smiled as he tapped his cane lightly against the ground "I want you to go home and see your son, after all you haven't seen his face for ten years! He'd be a grown man by now!"

The mother absently shook her head as she signed a paper "No, he'd only be fifteen this year"

The Ninth's smile fell and an icy glare cut into her "What." she slowly turned, fear in her eyes "You left a five year old child by himself." she tried to step back but her feet were iced to the ground "You left him for all this time. I thought your bloodline was better than that"

The phone split the pregnant silence and the elderly man tapped a button "Hello Reborn, how is the trip?"

"Timote, is Nana there with you?"

"Yes she is" the tone wasn't happy.

"What about Iemitsu?"

"He should be here momentarily, I assume this is about the age of the candidate and the total disregard that his parents have shown him." said blond walked in and the doors iced over and the look he got from his wife spelled everything out for him.

Reborn took a deep breath over the phone to try to maintain his calm demeanor "Nana, how much money do you send on a weekly basis?"

The woman answered calmly "Enough for the house to be paid and for groceries."

"Apparently it's not enough, I was just by that house and your son is working two full time jobs and going to school. I took a peak in the rooms and barren is the word that comes to mind, not just of furniture and clothes but food as well, a mouse would starve trying to find extra food, and his shopping list was woefully short. I also took the liberty of stealing his phone logs. Why don't I see any number linked to you? Ever."

* * *

As Tsuna walked to school that Monday a small thump settled on his tired shoulders, with only a glance he grated "Hello Reborn. I take it the other candidate declined?"

Reborn sipped on an espresso "Actually there are no other candidates. But I do have to ask how you can take all this so calmly."

The boy stopped walking for a moment "I worked hard to keep my mind open, if I didn't I wouldn't have either of the jobs I have now- one is an assistant to a law firm, essentially I do any grunt work they need."

He started walking again and Reborn tipped the fedora down over his eyes "And the other?"

"Part of the cleaning staff for a brothel…and assistant, if they need something they call me." the cardboard cup in the tiny hitman's had crumbled.

"How did you come by that job?"

Tsuna shrugged, a favored habit Reborn noticed, "Wrong place, wrong time. The owner found out his other cleaning person OD'ed on something and needed a new one, I was running through an ally trying to take a shortcut home. He offered me a good paying job at hours I could take and I needed the money." glancing at his watch Tsuna continued "Now, if you'll excuse me I need to get moving before I get beat up by Hibari" and the boy set the toddler down before breaking into a sprint that Usain Bolt would envy. Reborn cautiously looked as the sprinting boy received a hard whack on the collar with a tonfa-his face didn't change, he didn't seem to register the hit at all but he spoke softly to a sharp-eyed man that 'hmmm'ed and set him on his way.

Absently the boy rubbed his shoulder before walking to a class where he was ridiculed and ignored in turns. Reborn observed from a near-by tree and quietly wrote things down on a pad of paper as he grasped the brutal silence and tyrannical harshness that his charge's classmates put him through. The only two that didn't torment him were Yamamoto Takeshi and Sasagawa Kyoko, both of which were school idols so it was impossible to know if it was a form of pity or their own form of bullying. Hana quietly stayed out of the way, she seemed to regard everyone but Kyoko as an idiot. The only reaction Tsuna ever gave was a nod or shake of the head and stare at the board. Even the teacher picked on him relentlessly, yet again, never did he react. Reborn would have applauded him for his level headedness if he wasn't about to rip people to shreds, his tiny fist bleeding from clenching so hard.

As the final bell rang Tsuna slipped out quickly and headed to his first job- the lawyer's assistant, periods of work were punctuated by silence that he studied in. That ended and he rushed to the nice part of town to his second job where it was much the same albeit the nature of the work was very different, long stretches of silence between moments of activity.

By the time he got home and cooked for himself it was already the new day and he fell onto his rickety bed for a few hours respite before starting over again.

That morning Reborn sat next to him sipping his favorite beverage "Tsuna, I'll move in here" he ordered, expecting an argument.

"If it makes you feel better go ahead" the boy shot back as he grabbed the piece of bread and tossed a spare key over his shoulder as he closed the door, the key sailed directly in Reborn's waiting hand. For a moment he stared at the small shard of metal- this was more than literally the key to Tsunayoshi's life. Given to him freely. Obsidian eyes alight with a smile he walked out the back (after locking up) and proceeded to the school.

When he got there it was in time to see something interesting- the captain of the kendo team stared at Tsuna who stood in front of Kyoko "What did you say looser?"

Tsuna's calm voice came quietly "I said don't treat her like an object. She is a person just like you and me…well, less like you"

Reborn scanned the list of names in his hand, 'There, Mochida Kensuke-captain of the kendo club, prospective boyfriend of Sasagawa Kyoko, fourth strongest in the city behind Sasagawa Ryohei, Hibari Kyoya and Yamamoto Tsuyoshi'

Mochida laughed "Fine then, we'll duel for her, it's painfully obvious you have a crush on her and are just trying to make me look bad! Be at the gym after school!" he puffed his chest out and stalked away followed by his kendo club cronies.

Tsuna just pinched the bridge of his nose as the others walked away. Reborn leapt onto his shoulder and took a sip from the ceramic cup "What do you plan on doing?"

Tsuna shrugged "Well, I do have some time today as the law firm is closed-the boss ordered everyone to take a three week vacation. So I guess I'll get my ass handed to me" their eyes met for a moment before the lighter ones looked at the ground and whispered "I-I'd actually rather you not be there. I don't want to loose what little dignity you think I have" the baby hopped down and the student walked to class. The hitman stopped as he heard the part not meant for him "just like my parents"

He turned and called "Tsuna!" the boy turned "I'm going to be there…because I believe you can win" the boy shrugged again and walked to class. Never seeing the sinister smirk on the hitman's face as he flipped and caught an odd bullet like a coin.

* * *

To say the odds were stacked against the almost orphan was an understatement. Mochida had been in kendo for nearly his entire life while Tsuna had no experience in fighting and the only training he had gone through were several jobs requiring lots of manual labor. Reborn overheard how they were stacking the odds even more, he nearly chambered a standard round-but he held back the urge when Tsuna showed up, everyone whispered about how calm he seemed. Reborn saw how scared he was from the look in his eye that he quickly hid.

Mochida smirked as he stepped into the ring "The first one to fall on the ground looses" with that he launched into the boy who was still struggling to put on the armor, the false sword slammed into his unprotected side and Tsuna fell dropped to a knee and coughed harshly. The Leon sniper slammed into the bullet as the second attack connected to Tsuna's body and the twin impact sent him through a wall. Mochida looked down at his hand in shock before he smirked and hollered "And I think that's my win!"

A chilled voice came from the wreckage "Not quite." Tsuna stepped out, down to his boxers-but no one noticed. They shrank back from the cold aura pushing down on them, Reborn felt the external limiters being released but he wasn't acting normally…well, he wasn't screaming. But the assassin was quickly reassured when his charge rushed forward with white eyes and kicked the captain in the chest hard enough to drive the air from his lungs and drove him to his hands and knees. The deathly calm man who wasn't calm at all planted a foot on the bastard's back before pushing, soon joints buckled before they failed and Tsuna looked at the judge who timidly raised his flag before he walked out and the fire died out.

* * *

When Tsuna got home to a cooked meal he smiled and thanked Reborn, who was shocked by the slight twitch of the lips that passed for the expression of joy- he would have called it a cruel mockery if he didn't know how truly and utterly miserable his life had been until that point.

With a start he realized that this was probably the biggest kindness anyone had shown him since birth. With rage he realized that neither Nana, nor Iemitsu gave him any kindness of their own. Tsuna patted Reborn's head once but stopped "…Sorry, I know you're not a kid" he handed Reborn back the spent bullet "Okay, explain what happened in the arena. I know you did something. I don't know what…but thanks"

The toddler looked at the bullet on the table before turning to his student "…I was sent here by the Ninth leader of the Vongola to train you to be the eleventh, your mother is the tenth. We were all under the impression you were much older when Nana left for Italia. If you accept my training and answer my next question I will tell you what I did to you"

With the twin favorite actions, a sigh and a shrug, he nodded "I don't know if we'll have time for your training…what's your question?"

"Do you want the affections of Kyoko?"

"No"

"Then why did you step forward like you did?"

"First of all that's two questions, but I really hate Mochida, he's an arrogant bully who thinks the world is for his enjoyment." Tsuna sat down said his thanks and started eating the pasta Reborn made for him.

When Tsuna went to sleep Reborn held the lizard-turned-phone to his ear.

* * *

Tsuna was pleasantly surprised to learn that Reborn could-and did- help him study, the test seemed much easier than they had before. Reborn watched from one of his 47 hiding places around the room, pleased that Tsuna's answers would earn him a solid 95 and that he had gotten them done so quickly. But he silently willed his student to pick up the pencil and start drawing, he truly believed that watching what somebody drew and how they drew it offered a glimpse into their minds. The lines slowly morphed into a dark drawing-beautiful in a terrifying way.

An old man dressed in Norse battle armor sat on his throne, in his scarred hands he held a long spear, too long for any lesser being, and on his shoulders sat two ravens looking into the distance. The entire image was bathed in the shadows of a dark night veiled by a the cover of a tree. The blood dripping from the spear onto Odin's face cast the blank look into a level of Hell that few had ever seen and even fewer could portray. Another piece of paper covered the sketch before another now that same man was held against a tree. Above the roots. Pierced. His weapon now turned against him, through him his shoulder bleeding from the deep wound, as he gained the knowledge of the World Tree.

Reborn could only stare in confusion. Odin, since when would a Japanese boy with no free time know about the King of the Norse Gods? When the bell rang out he hopped on his charge's shoulder and asked just that. "He's the greatest god of War. My life is a war. So he should be my patron god, right?" Reborn had no answer to that.

He almost felt bad for calling the first assassin.


End file.
